This specification relates dye application to textile manufactures, exhaustion of the applied dye, and drying of the textile manufacture.
During the manufacturing of textile products, such as carpet products, samples of the products are dyed to ensure that the textile product being produced is free of material, chemical or process related problems. Typically, a piece of sampled textile manufacture is dyed and examined before committing to a large amount of production to detect any possible unforeseen problems and ensure the product quality and consistency with the standards. If the dyed sample indicates the textile manufacture being produced is within acceptable specifications, then full production may commence. However, if the dyed sample indicates the textile manufacture being produced is not within acceptable specification, then remedial actions are taken, e.g., yarn problems or colorant deviation are resolved, before going into full production.
Checking a textile manufacture sample for these problems requires dyeing of a full width sample so that the defective, e.g., altered molecular structure or orientation, or contaminated, e.g., chemically different fiber mix, yarn can be traced and replaced from its relative location in the loom. With manufacturers producing textiles on looms 90 inches wide and larger, e.g., looms for upholstery, curtain or carpeting, finding a sample dyeing machine large enough to be able to dye full width sample presents challenges. The process of applying dye to textile manufacture samples, exhaustion of the applied dye, and drying of the textile manufacture is expensive and prone to error.
For example, dyeing and drying may take from 8 to 48 hours depending on the dye house work load and the communication between the departments. Such a process entails weaving a full width of a 15-20 linear feet long sample and sending it to the dye house to be dyed. The sample piece cannot be inspected until it finishes going through the entire dyeing and drying cycle with the batch it is dyed together. This results in production machinery sitting idle during the entire time the sample piece is being handled.
Another check process involves the immersion of a full width piece of the textile manufacture in a large container filled with hot water and colorant. This process is less effective than the prior process, as it typically only reveals problems for a chemically different fiber or yarn mixed in another type of fabric either during spinning or weaving processes. This process may not reveal the defective or contaminated yarn because it only “ring” dyes the fiber surface, i.e., the dye only cosmetically stains the outside of the fiber without fully penetrating the fabric, thus appearing to be consistent with the rest of the batch when, in fact, it is not. The fibers needs to be either boiled in a dye bath or steamed after the dye solution is applied on it for a considerable amount of time for any difference in its dye absorbency to be detected. Subsequently, hidden defects appear when fabric goes through proper production procedure resulting considerable amount of “factory seconds” that cannot be sold at full market value.